Crossing the Blues
Showing posts with label ideal rooms. Show all posts
Showing posts with label ideal rooms. Show all posts

Where Will You Be In 4 Weeks/Months/Years???


I love, love, love this song, and since I feel like my post today is about something inspirational (in a round about way), I decided to share this with you so you could listen as you read. I hope you love it as much as I do . . .

Remember those letters we used to write to our future selves in high school (and/or elementary)?? Well thanks to Jess at Make Under My Life (a site I really love), I found out about a site called Future Me that allows you to do just that! You can write yourself a letter to be delivered at a later date of you choice, and it's absolutely FREE!! What a great way to not only hold yourself accountable, but to also remind you of your optimism and hopefulness at a later time when you may really need it (or remind you of how little faith you had when you didn't know good things were coming your way!). You can also choose to make you letter public but anonymous, so that it will appear in the public letters section which is on the website. I had a chance to peruse through some of the public letters and people have written some interesting and personal things. In some ways, looking through some of the letters helps to remind me that people across the world struggle with some of the same things I do. Here are a few excerpts:

I would imagine you are still with Michael who in 2009 seems to be a wonderful wonderful guy. You have travelled to many overseas places with him and gone on numerous architecture adventures.
You guys plan to get married and your families love each other... kind of.
You are a confident, happy and independent woman!! If you haven't all of the above, at least you should still have enough courage, inspiration and energy to work towards your dreams. All the best from 2009. (TO BE DELIVERED APRIL 2014)

And Jamie is a great kid, even if he does grate on the nerves sometimes. Remember how he woke up this morning with kisses. And being solo is better than being with someone who wants to own you. This freedom was hard won. Being lonely is still better than still being married and hating your life. (TO BE DELIVERED MAY 2006)

Be kind to yourself - the whole world is there to rip you down, you should be there to build yourself back up again. No one is going to do this for you.
Much love and respect
-Me (TO BE DELIVERED JAN 2010)

I hope you're taking care of yourself. And finding yourself, too, because as I write this, you're lost and wondering where exactly things started to change and you started giving yourself away. I hope you've found your beauty and talent again. I hope you've stopped giving in and giving up. I love you. (TO BE DELIVERED APRIL 2007)

I really like this idea and plan to craft one this week. I think I'll have one delivered in a few months, and then maybe do it again to be delivered next year. It will be interesting to see if I've accomplished some of the things I'd like to do this year and if, as many people wrote, I've eased up on myself a bit. Time flies so quickly, it's good to be able to take a photograph of your brain at any given day of your life. I think as I create mine, one of the things I know I would like to tell my older self is to remember to focus on living life as I work toward my passion/destiny, and not try to force something that isn't, or get down because I'm not "there" yet. I think "there" is more of a journey than a destination, but I'll know better in a few years! :)

Do you think you'll create a letter to yourself? What things would you want to tell you older self??

Vanessa De Vargas

Photo courtesy of Houzz.com, Vanessa De Vargas


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James Radin

I decided that it didn't make much sense to spend all that time talking about the moive and the set design without giving a platform to the man that made it all happen--James Radin! If you're under a rock and don't already know, James is Nancy's personal interior designer and has worked with her on all of the movies we know and love (Something's Gotta Give, It's Complicated, Baby Boom (interiors weren't memorable, but I love the movie), The Holiday, Father of the Bride) translating the essence of her wonderful characters into memorable living spaces. Unfortunately I can't copy the images from his portfolio, but I can share some of his work from her other movies.

Father of the Bride Filming Location












I love how everything always looks so beautiful, yet comfortable and realistic. That what I strive for in my home, and I'm working on it bit by bit, and figuring out what that means for me (and how to translate it into my style).

I also want to take this space to thank the person who gave all of those wonderful Elle Decor, Traditional Home, & Oprah magazines to the thrift store . It has provided hours of reading pleasure! :)

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I Love This Kitchen!



While picking up spray paint and other a few other items in Home Depot last week, I ran into this wonderful kitchen. It's so my style, and it made me re-think my needs and wishes. Obviously the pole going through the island isn't a part of the set-up, but it made me realize that we often times have a tendency to build bigger instead of building smarter, or building for how you (and your family) actually live. Granted, this is harder if you're moving into a pre-existing home, but there are still changes to be made that can improve your space. I know one of the issues I have in my home is a lack of storage. There's no front closet, so there's no place downstairs to hold coats & purses, or store heavy blankets for lounging around downstairs. Just this weekend I started looking for a (stylish) coat rack and am thinking of using the extra space at the bottom of my armoire to store my quits. In my kitchen I'm pretty much able to deal with the counter space (or lack of), but I feel like I'm always having to shove things in the drawers or cabinets. So much that a shelf in the cabinet where I store my heaviest things completely collapsed. Looking through this kitchen showed me that a small space can really be more functional than a large one, of it's planned correctly. Let me show you . . .


This is like the mother of all pantries, especially for a kitchen of this size . This thing is ridiculous!


Um, hello???? There are 2 layers of storage in this bad boy! Have you ever seen anything like this? You could hide a small child back there (though I DO NOT recommend it )! After using this, I think I would only need about one more cabinet for my dishes and that would be it. This thing is crazy.


Love this undermount sink from Kohler. This is the first time I've seen something like this that has two sides that are not totally separate. I'm really feelin' this style, and of course, I love a porcelain sink. I moved into my home from a place that had a porcelain sink, and I never knew that the stainless one could get so spotty--or maybe I just never noticed before. Don't get me wrong, the sink I have does the trick (I am very grateful for running water, period), but since I'm not the cleanest person, I'll definitely be going this route next time. Clean it out and you're done--no spots!


Here's a close-up of the beautiful glass tile backsplash. I love the material and the pattern they created. This would also be really pretty as subway tile.


This is what I always want to check out in a kitchen, and this corner cabinet did not disappoint! I wish I would've gotten a photo of it closed, because it looked like a small little door, but it was actually double hinged with 3 levels of storage. Mine is like a black hole. I feel like I actually have to CLIMB IN THE CABINET to get whatever has fallen to the back. It can be really scary.


I think I first saw this at Ikea, though I know many companies make something like it. If this isn't convenient, I don't know what else is. I think I also like how things are kind of close in this kitchen-- you don't have to run to different places to get the things you need.


Here's a view of the entire space from the other side. I could do without the wine cooler, since I don't drink, but everything else I love. And what about you--what do you think about this space (both planning, and color scheme)? For those of you who have small and/or older kitchens, what solutions have you come up with to maximize your storage space? Struggling to be Stylish shared a great tip with me last week about how she put her spice rack on the inside of her cabinet door. I would love to try that, if they weren't so full already. Talk to me, people . . .


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